Election was a research -Sannasgala

19 August 2015 08:57 pm

The well known tuition master Upul Shantha Sannasgala, who entered the Sri Lankan political arena by contesting the Colombo District from the UNP, but failed to win a parliamentary seat, said yesterday that he considered his contesting the election as an act of research done by him.

He said he could see how people reacted when policy-based politics was adopted by a politician while others were following pledges-based politics.

“In my opinion, politicians who practise policy-based politics are rejected by the people. That is what happened to me,” he said.

Since beginning his election campaign after selling a plot of land that belonged to him in Kandy, he never gave bribes such as fishing nets, roofing sheets, or sil redi to people in order to get preferential votes, he said.

He said he had conducted an exemplary election campaign and rejected many offers by businessmen to fund his election campaign.

He said he had also not sought any offers from TV channels to promote himself via television debates or discussions, though they would certainly have supported him, since he was a novelist, film producer and lyricist.

However, he said he would not give up his efforts to serve the people through politics despite his defeat.

When asked whether he would agree to it if the UNP offered him a place on its National List, he said he would.

“I had to face a similar situation to singer Shihan Mihiranga. Many believed he would be the Super Star in that contest. But unexpectedly he was removed during the competition and Ajith Bandara became the winner. Everybody believed I was certain to be elected to parliament, and consequently voted for others. Now they phone me and say they are sorry I was not elected,” he said.(Piyumi Fonseka)